Making a cheesecake from scratch using ingredients including a soft uncured cheese (such as cream cheese), butter, eggs, and sugar provides a quality dessert having premium flavor and texture. Preparing such a cheesecake, however, requires significant time and effort that many consumers today are unwilling or unable to expend. Various ready-to-use-type cheesecake products are known which are intended to allow the consumer to prepare a cheesecake in less time and with less effort. These products, however, sacrifice a certain degree of quality to convenience. To compensate for the decline in quality, it may be necessary for the, consumer to add staple ingredients, such as cream cheese, in order to provide a cheesecake of a quality more closely resembling a from-scratch cheesecake.
Dry mixes may also offer certain time-saving advantages. Often, the mixes are made so that the consumer only adds water to the mix and bakes. These mixes can be stored at ambient temperature for extended periods of time. These mixes alone do not provide the quality of fresh ingredients. In some cases, the consumer may be required to add certain ingredients to improve the quality; however, having the consumer to add ingredients detracts from the time-saving advantages of using a prepared mix, as well as increases the effort required by the consumer.
Cheesecake mixes are known that can be used to prepare a cold-set cheesecake, thereby eliminating baking. U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,891, issued to Eisfeldt, discloses a shelf-stable fluid product that gels upon setting at refrigerated temperatures. The product contains gelatin, starch, sweetening agent, and a protein source, which are believed to interact during preparation of the product to provide a reversible gel matrix. The consumer whips the product to incorporate air into the product and then refrigerates the product, allowing it to gel and form a cheesecake.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,594,255, issued to Wilson, discloses a dry mix which can be used to prepare a sugar-free cheesecake. Milk is added to the mix, and the rehydrated mix then is whipped to mix the ingredients, as well as to incorporate air into the filling, which will affect the lightness of the texture of the final product. The mix then is poured into a prepared crust and chilled for several hours to allow the mix to gel and form a cheesecake.
These cold-set mixes also sacrifice a degree of quality because of the constitution of the ingredients and the method of preparation. Cold-set cheesecakes generally cannot offer the texture and mouthfeel of a baked-from-scratch cheesecake because of the addition of a gel component in the mix. Furthermore, although the cold-set method may be easier than baking, the benefits to texture and appearance from baking are lost.
Cheesecake products are known which can be used to prepare an improved-quality cheesecake when the consumer bakes the dessert rather than having it gel in the refrigerator. These products still save time because a complete (or nearly complete) mix is provided. One such ready-to-bake mix is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,772 to Nolte which discloses a ready-to-use cheesecake filling mix which, upon whipping and baking, produces a quality cheesecake filling. The filling mix contains, among other ingredients, cream, sugar, eggs, milk, and nonfat dry milk. Such a mix is storable for an extended period of time at refrigerator or freezer temperatures. The consumer aerates the filling mix by whipping and then bakes. Preparing a cheesecake from a mix of this type still requires effort and time on the part of the consumer. Moreover, failure to fully aerate the filling mix can result in a less desirable product.
Inasmuch as conventional ready-to-use mixes, such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,732,772, contains eggs, certain problems associated with the handling of raw eggs may arise during production due to potential microbiological growth, activity, or contamination. Additionally, a potential risk from salmonella and other microbes exists for consumers and their children who may ingest raw (or less than fully cooked) batter at home. No known cheesecake product provides an egg-free, ready-to-use batter that can be baked to produce a quality cheesecake resembling a from-scratch cheesecake.
Furthermore, a from-scratch cheesecake prepared using traditional ingredients typically contains a relatively high level of fat. In recent years, attempts by consumers to reduce the fat in their diet have made it more likely that a consumer will choose a more nutritional dessert rather than cheesecake, or even will choose not to have any dessert at all. It is therefore also desirable to provide a ready-to-use batter that can be used to prepare a reduced-fat cheesecake.